The transmission of signals across an electrical isolation barrier is important for many applications, including the following:                Mains connected medical equipment (for patient safety)        Communications links across cables between mains connected equipment (to avoid ground loops). Examples are USB, Firewire, Ethernet etc.        Isolating telecommunications equipment from phone lines (for lightning strike protection)        Mains data networks (for mains power isolation)        Precision audio, sensing and data acquisition (to suppress noise pickup)        Industrial sensing and control (for isolation of various power domains)        Automotive circuits (for protection from high voltage electrical spikes)        
Traditionally, optical isolation using optocouplers has been used for these purposes. However, optocouplers can support only relatively low data rates (˜10 Mbps) and consume a lot of power (>10 mW). In view of such shortcomings, electronics manufacturers are increasingly introducing other forms of digital isolators, based on a variety of technologies, including transformer (inductive), capacitive, and Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) coupling.
It is desired to provide an integrated circuit and a method of producing an integrated circuit that alleviate one or more difficulties of the prior art, or that at least provide a useful alternative.